When I began this collection back in 2010, the Japanese doll craze was just beginning. I really wanted to create these dolls, I had considered creating applique designs, but I wanted to be able to create more detail that applique was offering, compared to the size of the design.

If you are familiar with creating dense designs, you will probably have experience with coming to the outline, only to find that the design has pulled in, and the outline is a few mm off.

I had previously had mixed success with stitching dense designs (like many others), and I really wanted to create something that not only I could stitch perfectly, but that everyone else could as well. When I was practicing different techniques with these dense designs, I discovered a couple of things.

Stabiliser is meant to be hooped with fabric – floating has it’s time and place, however when you are stitching a dense design, HOOP your fabrics and stabiliser together in the hoop.

Keep your fabric Square in the hoop to avoid extra pulling – The more stitches there are in your design, the more the fabric is likely to pull. Ensuring that the fabric is square in the hoop will assist in minimising this.

Finally – the best hack I found, was to hoop my fabric as part of a stabiliser sandwich – lay a piece of tear away over the fabric on the top as well the bottom, with the stabiliser on opposite angles. Hoop all 3 layers, and because there is tear away on the top, as well as the bottom, the fabric will not move, and the stitches will all align perfectly.

Hoop the stabiliser with stabiliser top and bottom, and you will be able to remove the stabiliser like a template once the stitching is complete.

I have created a couple of different projects with these gorgeous dolls. The first was a small lap quilt. I really wanted to highlight the dolls, and kept it very simple, with a bright fabric.

I was then asked to create this quilt for a patchwork magazine, and they needed it in a single bed format. I added some quilting blocks to the top and bottom, and had it professionally quilted to highlight the blocks.

The last project I had made with these designs was a couple of cushions. I love doing cushions, mainly because they are quick, simple, and can really perk up a room.

Initially when I created the Kimmni Dolls collection, we gave away a design in this collection as a freebie. You can access this design HERE. As a thank you to all of our loyal customers, for the next week we are also offering a second Kimmni Dolls design as a free download. Simply click HERE to collect your copy.

Thank you for taking this trip down memory lane with me, I hope you have enjoyed looking at this collection, and that it has inspired you to try some of these beautiful Kimmni Dolls.